June 2005 Archives

This is a clip from NPR,in which Senator Patty Murray, (D-WA) aptly demonstrates the difficulty in getting a simple answer to a simple question.

Go hear and listen to her question VA Cabinet Secretary Jim Nicholson on the VA shortfall of over $1 billion dollars that his office has known about since at least April of this year, but is he only now telling Congress about.

This clip not only demonstrates the difficulty of getting a straight answer from government officials, but it also shows that Senator Patty Murray, is one heck of a mom. My guess is that she has raised at least one teenager. Too bad that she has to use those fine skills on Cabinet Secretaries of the United States Government...

Yesterday, the Senate debate over increasing Veterans' funding caused some tempers to flare.

Harry Reid (D-Nev.) exchanged harsh words with Republican Conference Chairman Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA). Joining the fray were Jim Nicholson and Larry Craig, when Senator Reid questioned Jim Nicholson's credentials and did not acknowledge Nicholson's past miltary experience. (He later apologized for not acknowledging Nicholson's previous military service.)

Billmon has a very good analysis of the President's speech on Tuesday night and its more subtle signals in language change that are very instructive. With apologies to Billmon to reprinting his column here:

Same Old Same Old

With only a few interesting twists. I'm going to let others parse the recycled evasions, half-truths and downright lies in Bush's speech. (160,000 "trained and equipped" Iraqi forces??? That ain't true even in Shrub's parallel universe, much less ours.) I've been doing this kind of thing for more than two years now, and it's grinding me down.

I'll also dispense with the detailed analysis of whether the speech will help Bush or not. The New York minute version: It buys him a favorable news cycle and a week, maybe two, of extreme lapdog obedience from the corporate media. It could move the polls his way by a couple of points. But after a month, and another 40 or 50 dead GIs, nobody will remember a word of it, not even G.W.

But I do want to take a longer minute to point out a subtle, and at times bizarre, shift in the propaganda rhetoric -- one that, as predicted, appears to set the stage (or at least leaves the door open) for further negotiations with some of the bad guys. It starts with this line:

Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war. Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women, and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. (emphasis added.)

Many of them?? So what murderous ideology do the rest of them follow? Utilitarianism? Bush's use of an adjective that's at least several terrorists short of "all" or "every" is echoed in this line:

Some of the violence you see in Iraq is being carried out by ruthless killers who are converging on Iraq to fight the advance of peace and freedom. (emphasis added)

Same as the old boss.

Meet the new President of Iran, via the family photo album...

Lovely.

Can there be any question about what Iran is trying to tell President Bush?

UPDATE: There is now independent confirmation of this story by five people who were taken hostage in 1979 when the American Embassy in Tehran fell, the Shah of Iran was ousted as leader and the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power.

You have to wonder how so many people in our government missed this one, or in the alternate, why they deliberately kept this under wraps.

From the Washington Post:

The Bush administration disclosed yesterday that it had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and warned that the health care programs will be short at least $2.6 billion next year unless Congress approves additional funds.

Veterans Affairs budget documents projected that 23,553 veterans would return this year from Iraq and Afghanistan and seek medical treatment. However, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told a Senate committee that the number has been revised upward to 103,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. He said the original estimates were based on outdated assumptions from 2002.

If anyone has any doubts about how completely FUBAR'd this administration's actions have been in the Iraq War, the fact that the estimate of troops returning from Iraq who will need VA care is four times the original estimate should remove any possible remaining doubts.

Madame Defarge found this little gem this morning:

ABC reports that White House advance team FAKED the applause by John in DC - 6/28/2005 08:34:00 PM

ABC's Terry Moran just reported that the only time Bush got applause was in the middle of his speech when a White House advance team member started clapping all on their own in order to cajole the soldiers into clapping, which they dutifully did.

So even the applause was fake.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/06/abc-reports-that-white-house-advance.html

**************

So we are wondering: what do you think this means for the President?

Once again, the DCP brings you an OPEN THREAD for tonight's revelations from our leader. We hope you will lnk to other blogs (and back here) as brilliant reflections can and do occur all over the 'net.

The discussion today has been rich and appropriate to the issues at hand. But feel free to have a LITTLE fun tonight--we are seeking witty and thoughtful responses that people can share in LTES, op-eds, and phone calls/emails to friends.

Unmask those frames! Re-frame at will! Bring perspective to the art form! Draw conclusions! Paint a new day! OK, I'll stop now...

Is the majority party in Congress sweeping this administration's actions under the rug? They could easily call for the Judiciary Committee to investigate the Downing Street Minutes if they felt morally inclined to keep our soldiers from fighting a potentially illegal war. But will they?

To begin the investigation for Impeachment our Congress must be willing to put aside party politics, and instead be willing to stand up and defend the American people from any high crimes and misdemeanors the President or his adminstration commits while in office. This part of the constitution guarantees that no man is above the law. When deaths are the result of these possible crimes, then I, personally, believe an investigation is the only morally and ethically correct decision to make.

Thus, I had to review the impeachment process:

1. An impeachment can open in many ways in the House- as long as it begins somewhere in the House. Often the House Judiciary Committee becomes involved at an early stage.

2. Before taking a final vote on whether to impeach a president, the House can vote to authorize its Judiciary Committee to begin an impeachment inquiry.

3. The Judiciary Committee may at this stage conduct hearings and draw up the articles of impeachment.

4. Under the Constitution, the House must vote on articles of impeachment. A simple majority vote can impeach the president-"impeachment" is more of an indictment than a conviction- and send the case to the Senate for trial.

5. The Senate conducts the trial. A prosecution team assembled by the House presents the evidence for conviction. which requires a two-thirds majority of the Senate. A legal defense team represents the president. The chief justice presides over the trial Normally the vice president presides over the Senate, but he must step aside under the Constitution because he would replace the president if senators vote for conviction. At the end of the trial, the Senate would (probably) allow senators to debate each article of impeachment before taking a vote.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed an FEC compliant against Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist this morning in Washington DC, alleging deliberate failure to disclose a sizable loan taken out by his 2000 campaign committee.

More from CREW:

In June 2000, Senator Frist took $1 million of the money that had been contributed to his 2000 Senate campaign and invested it in the stock market, where it promptly began losing money. In November 2000, Senator Frist sought to collect $1.2 million he had lent his 1994 Senate campaign committee. As a result of the stock market losses, however, Frist 2000, Inc. did not have enough money to repay the loan. Senator Frist solved this problem by having the 1994 and the 2000 campaign committees jointly take out a $1.44 million bank loan at a cost of $10,000 a month interest. Frist 2000, Inc. did not report this debt on its FEC disclosure forms.

So, I woke up yesterday morning to this news:

The Bush administration, already accused by veterans groups of seeking inadequate funds for health care next year, acknowledged yesterday that it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year.

The disclosure of the shortfall angered Senate Republicans who have been voting down Democratic proposals to boost VA programs at significant political cost. Their votes have brought the wrath of the American Legion, the Paralyzed Veterans of America and other organizations down on the GOP.

"I was on the phone this morning with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, letting him know that I am not pleased that this has happened," said Senator Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "I am certain that he is going to take serious steps to ensure that this type of episode is not repeated."

Is not repeated? I think a few people may want answers as to how this happened in the first place, Senator. And I think a few more people may want to know what Congress intends to do about it, Senator.

Tell me again how much you support the troops, Senator.

If you think that as a taxpayer you are entitled to an explanation for the way the troops are being treated, you can find the information to contact your representatives here. If you click on the links for the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives and the Senate, you will find a list of representatives who are responsible for this situation.

In the Fifth Chapter of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tse offers his thoughts on an old controversy that has been receiving renewed attention as of late.

The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.

Never has the sage’s wisdom in this verse been more pertinent than in our era of sacred madness. For while President Bush is apt to describe the terrorists as “evildoers”, we do well to remember that they see themselves as holy warriors striking a blow against the imagined enemy of God. They expect their ultimate end to be an eternity in Paradise, not the Inferno.

Dear Readers –

This week I am ready to announce the culmination of many months of hard work, market feasibility studies, and experimental prototype development for the creation of my new product… I’ve teamed up with some “Official Washington” consultants, and together we’ve created a board game that I think will change forever the way Americans spend their evenings…

Drum roll, please.

I am proud to present to you the new parlor entertainment that will sweep the land...

“American Hack©”
The Board Game of Intrigue, Influence and Ineptitude in our Nation’s Capitol

American Hack© features all the characters we’ve come to know and love, a map of Capitol Hill, and miniature, fully expensed cars that zip back and forth along K Street…

Other highlights of the game include The Press Room, The Cloak Room, A Place of Worship, The Family Values Center, and The Official Watering Hole. The Press Room holds special importance in the game, with players alternately trying to get in, or trying to avoid getting in. Getting in earns players a pass on Senate Select Committee Hearings. The Press Room is in the center of the board, but players can get around it by stopping at either A Place of Worship or The Family Values Center.

There are four teams that compete for influence over major legislation. Teams can write large checks, secure slots on policy committees that regulate their industries, purchase lavish vacations for members of Congress, or check their spines in the Miniature Oak Paneled Cloak Room, which enables them to become a Future Presidential Candidate.

When the game starts, players can select which team they’re going to play for. The teams are: Members of Congress, Lobbyists, Religious Leaders, and The Press. Additionally, there are 3 Political Whores. They are the political equivalent of the ancient Succubi, and are picked up like a virus at The Official Watering Hole, and cannot be disposed of for the duration of the game. Picking up a Political Whore carries a myriad of negative consequences.

Criteria for winning the game varies, dependent upon which team you’ve decided to play for.

For instance, Members of Congress win by surpassing a predetermined fundraising goal, which requires numerous trips up and down K Street, and then securing a “White House Favor” card. The White House Favor card can be used at any time in the game to instantly become “Future Presidential Candidate” or to bypass The Press Room by jumping to A Place of Worship or The Family Values Center. If they are infected with a Political Whore at the Official Watering Hole, their Future Presidential Candidate card is revoked.

For a Lobbyist to win, there are some options. One option is to be a key fundraiser for a Member of Congress. The other is to secure a multi-year, billion dollar contract for one of the big K Street firms. Lobbyists secure bonus points by choosing correctly the Future Presidential Candidate, and win by eventually attaining a White House Staff Position. This is the only group for whom the Political Whore has no consequences.

Religious Leaders have multiple steps to achieve victory in the game. First, they must form a non-profit values-based organization. Then, through multiple trips to K Street, they must secure travel expenses for appearances at high-profile family conflicts centered around End-of-Life Issues. Ultimately, they achieve victory by holding a nationally televised prayer vigil in A Place of Worship or The Family Values Center, and then stabbing to death a Member of Congress using the Shiv of Holy Shame. This is followed by a Ritual Sucking Out of the Soul in the Miniature Oak Paneled Cloak Room. If they accidentally stab to death a Future Presidential Candidate, they are disqualified. If they accidentally pick up a Political Whore, possession of the Shiv of Holy Shame is revoked, and they are forced to report immediately to the Press Room, where they will be grilled without benefit of a press aide.

And finally, The Press… victory is least complicated for members of The Press. This team doesn’t actually move around the board, but instead rolls the dice for access to members of the other three teams. They must ask questions of the other team members, but they must tread carefully. If they ask a question that is too pointed of a Member of Congress, Lobbyist, or Religious Leader, they are penalized with the Helen Thomas Access Card for three rolls of the dice. Players who succeed in avoiding the Helen Thomas Access Card are rewarded with their own political show on cable television, which allows them to show their sensitive side and start a long-term relationship with a Political Whore. Taking up with a Political Whore can have negative consequences, but allows members of the press corps to date.

So, ladies and gentleman, there it is… My latest creative endeavor, and one that will surely be the next big thing in adult home entertainment.

In the very near future, American Hack© will be available for purchase. Until then, I hope that you can find some way to entertain yourselves, and break up the monotony that threatens to smother your aching soul.

I recommend Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

See you next week,

Polly Sigh

I was speaking to a friend last night about Karl Rove's comments at a Conservative fundraiser, and he told me something I didn't know. It wasn't a conservative fundraiser for Republican New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, Doug Forrester.

So that made me think about something else altogether.

To what extent, if any, are the candidates for a political office responsible for the remarks made at a fundraiser held to help them attain that office?

I wrote this item on Monday, but didn't get a chance to post it, real time issues of more importance taking priority. But the point still remains the same. The media still thinks that this is what people want to watch because it's what they are watching.

Wrong.

The people watch this because they aren't given any reasonable options for news coverage. I watch my local news, only to find out that they had subscribed to part of the coverage that they were told was done by CNN, only to find out it was part of the White House propaganda machine.

But with the audiences dwindling on Fox, CNN, and MSNBC, maybe the producers will start to notice and stop giving us the tired response: "We put this on because this is what the people want".

Really, how many people do you know that want to watch hour after hour of child molestation trial coverage?

I've been to real child molestation trials, and they are absolutely awful and heart-breaking. And making entertainment, or infotainment, or whatever you want to call it, brand of television shows out of the exploitation of children makes them party to the exploitation of these children, and only one step better than the people who abused them in the first place.

No, it's not what people want to watch, it's what "news" producers put on television and then tell/sell people on the idea that this is what the news looks like.

Well, on Monday, they hit new highs in the department of "How low can you go?"

From Karl Rove today, to the Republican Congressman from North Carolina, Joe Wilson, these people are quite simply, nuts.

From Congressman Joe Wilson,(R-NC)today (Via Wonkette):

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who joined Pryce at the press conference, told Cybercast News Service that it "is just inconceivable and truly incorrigible that in the midst of the war, that the Democratic leaders would be conducting guerrilla warfare on American troops..."

Democratic leaders are conducting guerilla warfare on our troops?

Yes, I would say that's pretty inconceivable, unless you are a complete nutjob, in which case, you not only conceive of it, you talk about it at a press conference.

Once again, it's not about Democrats and Republicans.

It's not about right and left.

It's about right and wrong.

Or in this case, it's about people who are nuts, and the rest of the world.

Karl Rove is despicable. I think we have all known that for some time, but now the proof of it comes from his own mouth.

Last night at a conservative fundraiser in New York City, Karl Rove, political advisor to President Bush, said that liberals want our troops to die.

President Bush's partner, in his own words:

"Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers,"..."Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year?" Mr. Rove asked. "Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals."

Are you outraged yet?

From Josh Marshall:

Don't forget that these statements are meant to outrage you. You're a targeted audience They're meant to perpetuate a state of maximal polarization in this country -- the state of affairs most suited for vampires like Mr. Rove to suck the nation dry.

[...]

Just right: Rove should apologize or resign.

And that's only the start. For Rove, the war on terror, Iraq and Afghanistan have always been nothing more than tools of domestic politics. He speaks for the president and the president speaks for him. So all of that applies to the president too unless and until we hear from him.

From Spinnaker in the comments, and also via First-Draft and Atrios:

Since Karl Rove is the Senior Political Advisor to the President, and the de facto head of the Republican party, why not call or e-mail your Republican member of Congress and ask them, "Does Karl Rove speak for you?"

Rove should either apologize or resign. Immediately.

...And for my money, Atrios is exactly correct when he says this:

For the record, my motives aren't to get more troops killed. If those were my motives I'd ship them off to a war on false pretenses without sufficient equipment to keep them safe.

Once again, President Bush and his administration is busy trying to sweep their incompetent, immoral behavior under the rug. However, this time, Richard A. Clarke, Gen. Richard B. Myers, and Terry Moran have grabbed the broom and refused to let the White House hide the dirt.

[Editor's Note: This item was first published this morning, but I have moved it up to the top because I would like it to get further exposure. Having said that, when you finish here, please drop down a thread and check that thread out as well, as it has equally interesting material and comments on it as well. Thanks.]

Last week I learned that George W. Bush would arrive in Minneapolis right after I flew in on my "red eye." My friend Bert (Vets for Peace) asked if I wanted to help "greet" him during my layover here.

Of course, I accepted.

After he picked me up at the airport, we headed to the State Capital in St. Paul where we assembled under the rotunda for a rousing rally and Bert and I did our "paparazzi" thing with our cameras. We then jumped onto a bright yellow schoolbus with Minnesotans for Social Security, a nonpartisan group, and headed to the suburb of Maple Grove, wearing bright yellow t-shirts that said "Hands Off Social Security."

You know, occasionally, late at night when I'm lying in bed, I have a moment of calm. I think to myself that our country has suffered and survived previous struggles, and that we will survive this terrible struggle, too.

But in the morning, I wake up and watch the news or read the newspaper. And I realize that last night's dreamy moment of calm was really quite delusional.

This week, Senator Dick Durbin stood up, and tried to speak about the global results of U.S. treatment of prisoners in detention facilities in Iraq and elsewhere. The words he used drew the usual phony, bellowing outrage from the usual assortment of hacks in the political and media realms... Compare our torture to that of lesser nations? It's an outrage. It's completely different when the U.S. tortures people. Everyone knows that. No matter what we do we have the moral high ground, right?

Wrong. The outrage is that we're having the conversation at all. Let me say that again: The outrage is that we're having the conversation at all. Senator Durbin was right. Everything he said was true. If you think it's not hurting us more than it's hurting them, you're suffering a delusional moment of calm that will shatter tomorrow.

Senator Durbin shouldn't have been the only one. Even if you count yourself among the angry, terrified Amurrkuns who feel that ANY behavior is justified by the existence of terrorism, I don't believe you can realistically say that it's helping us win the hearts and minds of the global community. But then again, we seem to have abandoned reality as a concept lately. We did this with the same speed that we abandoned our belief in the right to dissent, the right to an independent media, an independent judiciary, and an independent population.

Direct from Karen,

I'm standing here outdoors at the Cannon Building. Boxes with ONE MILLION signatures on petitions are everywhere:

The three people I can see right now are Sen. Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nita Lowey, and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. All are from N.Y.

There are also a number of adorable children carrying signs.

[Editor's Note: Please be sure to check out the thread below, "Got Kids? We Need Your Help!". Karen has asked for a call to action on saving children's programming. Thanks!]

Well, there it is folks, in case you had any doubt. Turns out Mr. Tomlinson was merely a pawn in the ongoing White House efforts to control the media.

Emails between Mr. Tomlinson and the White House clarify that contrary to public statements, Kenneth Tomlinson is, in fact, working to create yet another arm of the White House spin machine through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Here's some info from Minnesota Public Radio
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4711531&sourceCode=RSS

[Editor's Note: Karen posted this on the last thread and is asking for help from all of you here at the DCP. I moved it to a blog post because we don't have alot of time to get the job done. Thanks for your help and the help of any kids you may know.]

From Karen: I received this in my e-mail today from the group, "Hands Off Public Broadcasting." I am very excited that the fight continues. But I need your help and the help of any kids you know. How to help is at the bottom of this blogpost.

You know how there is all that annoying fine print just about everywhere these days, from the tissue-paper thin caveats on the credit card agreement you are signing, to the advisory on the toothpaste box that you shouldn't put toothpaste in your eyes?

I imagine many people don't read all of that, but I do. I like reading the fine print. And the same things go for listening carefully to what politicians tell me when they are trying to sell us and idea, program or plan. And I have to say, I don't remember our government ever saying this with regard to how long we would be in Iraq:

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked if “the Bush administration fairly [can] be criticized for failing to level with the American people about how long and difficult this commitment will be?” Rice responded:

[T]he administration, I think, has said to the American people that it is a generational commitment to Iraq.

Editor's Note: Matthew Carnicelli, the author of the Democracy Cell Project's exclusive series examining the intersection of religion and politics, returns from sabbatical this Sunday with an open letter to New York Times columnist, David Brooks. This letter was composed in direct response to Brooks' June 12, 2005 column: "The Wisdom We Need to Fight AIDS".

The URL for Brooks' original column is:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/12/opinion/edbrooks.php.

Dear Mr. Brooks,

In his 1958 novel, "A Mixture of Frailties", Robertson Davies offered a contemporary definition of chastity as "body in soul's possession". Whether one is describing the tragedies of AIDS devastation in sub-Saharan Africa or that of the bare-backers of Fire Island and Key West, Davies' definition strikes me as one that is as relevant as any in our time.

People of good will - be they straight or gay, or politically liberal or conservative, or be they traditionally religious, or spiritual and secular, or secular and ethical - are largely in agreement that the hyper-sexuality of our era is simply unsustainable. But the vexing question we must answer is how we go about transforming this situation.

As a rule, I devote this column to the concerns of my readers, as expressed in their touching, and sometimes grammatically troubling letters. However, this week, in a bold break from tradition, I will be sharing a letter penned by yours truly to Mr. George W. Bush.

Now you may ask, what has upset you so, Polly, that you would write to the actual President of the United States or his facsimile? Well, after careful thought, I have concluded that the policies and programming of the current administration do not adequately represent the Progressive viewpoint – they are extremely biased toward the Conservative perspective, and I feel that this must be rectified immediately. Below is my humble missive to Mr. Bush.
Dear George:

I am writing today to express my grave concern over the clearly Conservative bias espoused on a daily basis by your administration. After all, public funds are used to finance administration activities, and I feel that this warrants a more balanced approach to policy making.

In deference to what I’m sure is a very tight schedule of cardiovascular exercise and publicity junkets, I’ve taken the liberty of outlining some suggestions for policy alterations, as well as individuals who are highly esteemed by Progressives in Official Washington.

Let us begin at the beginning.

This is a letter written by Representative John Conyers (D-MI)to the Washington Post in response to the article by Dana Milbank published in today's issue of that newspaper:

June 17, 2005

Mr. Michael Abramowitz, National Editor
Mr. Michael Getler, Ombudsman
Mr. Dana Milbank
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20071

Dear Sirs:

I write to express my profound disappointment with Dana Milbank's June 17 report, "Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War," which purports to describe a Democratic hearing I chaired in the Capitol yesterday. In sum, the piece cherry-picks some facts, manufactures others out of whole cloth, and does a disservice to some 30 members of Congress who persevered under difficult circumstances, not of our own making, to examine a very serious subject: whether the American people were deliberately misled in the lead up to war. The fact that this was the Post's only coverage of this event makes the journalistic shortcomings in this piece even more egregious.

There ought to be a law--at some point after you are dead, political bottomfeeders should be arrested for trying to score political points off of your dead body.

Via Atrios

LARGO - Refusing to give up on the Terri Schiavo case, Gov. Jeb Bush has asked Pinellas prosecutors to sort out time discrepancies Michael Schiavo has provided regarding the hour he found his wife unconscious 15 years ago.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe has agreed to review the time elements in the case, his chief assistant, Bruce Bartlett, said Thursday.

**Norwegian proverb, thanks to NonnyO

If you look closely at that face, you can see the eyes of a man who has spent 41 years standing up to bullies. It is the face of John Conyers, and he is standing at the White House gate, and he is delivering the names of 560,000 of us to the current administration.

He is tired and his voice is raspy. But he is full of steel and joy as well. Next to him are Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, Sheila Jackson Lee, and they are looking at each other in a quiet, prescient moment.

We all wait.

Two perfectly dressed and coifed young staffers arrive at the gate and take the petitions. They are slightly sullen, as if they have been interrupted from something FUN to come and take this refuse and deal with it. We watch as they bring it all into the guardhouse. We can see them in there, talking. What to do? This is clearly unprecedented.

No one enters the gate. It remains locked.

[Editor’s Note: "Live Blogging The Conyers Hearing" is available in chronological sequence here.]

UPDATE:18:42:15: [from rally after delivering the signed petitions to the White House] John Bonifaz has just called for the impeachment of President Bush. He's demanding "Give our country back."

He's now turning the mike over to John Conyers.

John Conyers said that 50 members of Congress showed up for the hearing. Mr. Conyers is beginning to lose his voice, but he is calling for "More Protests, More Marches, More Letters, More Hearings, More Signatures...". He said, "We are going to continue to collect more signatures... 1 million signatures, 5 million signatures, 20 million signatures.... However many it takes..."

Congress has moved from aiming at Big Bird and Elmo, to having them squarely in their sites and ready to pull the trigger today at the Appropriations Committee Meeting.

In a breathless rush to get this all over before parents all across America have a chance to discover what they are doing, Congress has raced this item forward on the agenda, going from subcommittee hearing to full committee vote in barely a week.

Do you think that Congress should kill the funding for children's educational television programs, such as Sesame Street? Do you think they should kill the funding for public radio broadcasts?

If yes, then do nothing.

But if you think this is wrong, wrong, wrong--keep reading.

Do we really have to do this all over again? Just when you thought institutional racism of this sort was well on its way to being eliminated, it grows yet another head and leaps out to stare straight at you.

On Monday evening, the Senate took up a resolution put forward by Mary Landrieu (D-LA,with George Allen (R-VA) as its lead co-sponser. The resolution was an apology by the Senate for never outlawing lynching.

An anti-lynching resolution--who could be against that, right? It's pretty much a no-brainer, right?

Not so fast.

After the voice vote was taken, there were only 78 co-sponsors to this bill. So where were the other 21? Why didn't they co-sponsor this bill? It wouldn't cost a dime. The only thing it would do is apologize for the Senate's failure to act on the crime of lynching and express its condemnation of this racist practice and this disgusting chapter in America's history.

So why didn't they all sign on to this bill?

I called Senate offices yesterday and got a range of answers, from "the senator was out of town", to "it passed unanimously", to "well, it was going to pass anyway", to "what resolution?"

Look, all of these answers are just so much garbage. What they are trying to do is say they support the bill, without having to actually go on record as supporting the bill. What reaction to this level of seeming pandering to racism can there be but disgust?

As many of you know, I live on Capitol Hill, a part of Washington DC that also houses the Capitol, the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court (as well as Murky Coffee, the Best Damn Coffee in the world, Eastern Market, with the best blueberry pancakes in the world, and several other community-based centers of culture and deliciousness).

[Editor's Note: We have another contribution from longtime DCP commenter, Christy Cole who wrote the powerful article, A Poverty of Compassion. We think it's important to post this because it's such a great example of politics from the heart.]

Excuse me, Blue State people. May I have your attention please..? Thank you.

I make it an obsessive habit to watch everything in our country lately. From down here in Louisiana, because of the 'Information Revolution,' I keep surprisingly up to date on the current cluster**** our nation has become.

Now, normally, I don't see things in red state/blue state terms. I was taught to believe we are ALL Americans first. Period. However, there is a red/blue problem that I simply can not remain silent on anymore. It touches on EVERYTHING we hope to do.

I see all our democratic and activist leaders, all on the move. It is truly a beautiful thing. The people are waking up, and the message is trickling out, slowly but surely. Our opposition to the tyranny of the Bush family bonds us in ways that transcend blue state/red state and hold us firm against the fear. I see our leaders holding rallies in N.Y., L.A., Phoenix, and D.C.

What I do not see are rallies in Jackson, Shreveport, or Birmingham.

Josh Marshall pointed me to this story in the London Sunday Times:

Ministers were told of need for Gulf war ‘excuse’ Michael Smith

MINISTERS were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal. The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier.

The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair’s inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was “necessary to create the conditions” which would make it legal.

[Editor's Note: Longtime DCP commenter, Christy Cole, submitted the following article on the proposed changes to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 8 Housing regulations and what it will mean to the nearly quarter of a million people who are currently enrolled in this program. Ms. Cole's thoughtful, informative and well-written article is an outstanding example of the important role that citizen journalism has to play in a vibrant and informed democracy. Thank you, Ms. Cole, for your essay. We are pleased and proud to print your fine work on this blog.]

I would like to say right off I advocate changes to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 8 Housing system. Working at a Section 8 Housing complex has made me understand that the program itself is not only enormous to administer, but like any other program, can be susceptible to fraud, overspending, and simple mismanagement. But, it is also a program that saves the lives of entire families every day in America. And throughout its history, it has saved many, many families from the hard and life-threatening reality of life on the streets.

However, the new bills before Congress are a two-fold plan for disaster. Eric Alterman helps us understand why:

Last month, Congress began hearings on two bills -- one each in the House and Senate -- that threaten to reorient federal assistance away from the families who need it most. Specifically, the legislation would double Section 8's existing median income cap to 60 percent, thereby allowing families who earn more to qualify for these vouchers.

It also removes rules which ensure that families in serious need receive the most assistance. Under the new measure, local housing authorities are free to award up to 90 percent of their vouchers to applicants who qualify under the raised income cap -- allowing them to grant the majority of vouchers to families who earn more and therefore pay more of the rent.

From someone who does see a need for change, I believe the name of this plan should be, "Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater." This is about as cruel and Dickensian as our government can get, and undercuts the very reason the program exists in the first place.

Today at the Rainbow Push conference I witnessed a stunning event that moved me to tears.

I have heard people say progressives have no passion or conviction, but they were NOT present to hear the TRUTH spill forth from Maxine Water's lips. She offered up A COMPLETE INDICTMENT of BUSH and his administration: each and every person within his administration. And after months of listening to the smears of the propaganda networks, this was particularly inspiring.

Congresswoman Waters was asked to speak about the United States' image in the world. She answered MORE than was asked! And she started by talking about the American people. She said, "The American people are not angry enough. They don't understand what this administration has done. I have watched the media worry about the truths that our chairman has said this week, but Howard Dean forgot to tell you--your president is a liar."

[This is the latest installment of my weekly series for the tired, poor, huddled masses who dot the charred American political landscape. May god bless you all. You are my people.
-- Polly Sigh]

Dear Polly Sigh:

Curious Lady After Washington

The Always Enterprising Sparrow called in from Chicago to report on the Rainbow Push Coalition Annual Conference she is attending:

I walked in as Jesse Jackson was talking about building a coalition among Asians, Latinos and African-Americans. He wants more grassroots organizations. People need to learn Spanish; they are offering free Spanish lessons at the Rainbow Push Coaliton headquarters in Chicago.

There are several issues that are key to coalition-building, including health care, education, labor, and civil rights. People must come together to guarantee the constitutional right to vote. In 2000, Jackson said, "The third rail is the civil rights rail. Neither party wants to touch the third rail because you can get electrocuted. But the third rail is the one that keeps the train going." Today, Jackson heavily suggested opening up that “third rail”.

Jackson also announced a massive march in Atlanta August 6. The focus will be on collective bargaining rights and other civil rights.

Pathetic. Truly pathetic. That's the state of the media in America. There are currently 2200 members of the media camped outside of the Santa Maria, California Courthouse eagerly awaiting news of the artist fomerly looking like Michael Jackson.

Okay, not all 2200 members of the media were American media. Probably only 2000, which includes the 100 from CNN, 230 from MSNBC's Dan Abrams Report (in which he usually reports on the many number of ways he can waste his law degree by being a hack for hire), and the 1000 or so from the likes of Entertainment Tonight, Access Entertainment, Access Hollywood, the Hollywood Reporter, and Woodworking Monthly.

But here's the interesting part. People have begun showing up. Actual regular type human beings are showing up outside the media encampment. Why, you might ask? HA! To get media attention for a variety of POLITICAL causes.

So there they are, the intrepid citizenry, willing to bring the mountain to Mohammed the idiotic members of the sleaze factory that is the media. And writ large on their signs were STOP THE WAR! and NO MAS GUERRA!

Amazing.

Next? I turned on C-SPAN and what do I see replayed? The Democrats press conference from last Thursday, with DNC Chairman Howard Dean, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin and Senator Chuck Schumer(D-NY).

First up, we get a nice view of the members of the formerly dignified Fourth Estate, as they shoved and pushed their way into Minority Leader Reid's office.

The pressure of competition proving too much for Fox News' reporter Brian Wilson, Wilson had a meltdown and did his linguistic impression of the Vice-President of the United States talking to Senator Pat Leahy on the floor of the Senate last year during picture day.

In a continuation of sorts of the discussion started below about Political Theater as a means of bringing attention to an issue, Pandagon, a blog I have long admired, gets it.

Pandagon is doing a blogathon, a Pandathon, for Amnesty International. For the next 20 or so hours, they will be posting every half hour, while raising consciousness and cash for AI. And God bless them for it.

Go over and share the love, won't you? Then come on back, we have Polly Sigh coming up this afternoon.

Atrios is more than correct when he says that John Arovosis should be a millionaire. The guy is an idea factory. And I agree also with Atrios, that knowing John, as we both do, we're pretty certain that he's not a millionaire. But he continues to come forward with some of the best and brightest ideas around. And I also note that these ideas are along the same lines as what DCP Blogmother Karen has been talking about around these parts, namely, the power of political theater.

Coingate. We've heard about it and read about it and seen it on television all of the...wait--whhhat's that?

Oh, right. Okay, let's try this again--Coingate, you've heard about it if you visit blogs which print the truth, and you've read about it if you have access to The Toledo Blade, or live in Ohio, and you have come nowhere near seeing it on television unless you've been taking peyote during some well deserved down time from your 9-5 gig.

But in a nutshell, Coingate is a story about the GOP led government in Ohio, and the looting of a $225 million Ohio State worker's comp fund. At least, that's how the story began--how it ends is anyone's guess. It was true for Watergate and it's still true. Follow the money, baby, follow the money.

The fact that there is all this money gone missing, and that Ohio had what was at best, poorly run elections, and at worst, fraudulent elections which led to the reelection of President Bush by a mere 10,000 votes, I am sure is a complete coincidence (pun intended).

And I haven't written about it before because I have been waiting to see what the lamestream media would do, the GOP would do, the Democrats would do, and how long it would take to get Coingate, Ken Blackwell, elections and Bush involved the same overall story.

We have crossed that threshold and the bride of scandal is in the house.

Yesterday, a house subcommittee carefully took aim at Big Bird, pulled the trigger and shot America's favorite pre-school teacher.

The goal is to kill all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting within two years.

A House subcommittee voted yesterday to sharply reduce the federal government's financial support for public broadcasting, including eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite such popular children's educational programs as "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," "Arthur" and "Postcards From Buster."

In addition, the subcommittee acted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which passes federal funds to public broadcasters -- starting with a 25 percent reduction in CPB's budget for next year, from $400 million to $300 million.

In all, the cuts would represent the most drastic cutback of public broadcasting since Congress created the nonprofit CPB in 1967. The CPB funds are particularly important for small TV and radio stations and account for about 15 percent of the public broadcasting industry's total revenue.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060902283.html

What you can do: Since the subcommittee already voted, the next step is to call the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Jerry Lewis, and tell him how you feel about this.

Here's the list of the other members of this committee, with links to their sites for contact information.

You know what to do. Now do it, please.

From the Harvard University Gazette:

Former CIA Director John M. Deutch, institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said that the United States is not making progress toward key objectives in Iraq and called for American troops to pull out "as soon as possible" during a speech Tuesday (June 7) at Harvard's Sanders Theatre.

Deutch, who delivered the Phi Beta Kappa oration at the honor society's annual Literary Exercises, served as CIA director under President Bill Clinton from May 1995 until December 1996. In his 20-minute speech, he challenged the views of both Republicans and Democrats who say that the United States must stay the course to stabilize the country before disengaging.

I don't even know what to say about this story. It somehow seems like the kind of thing you would read in a tabloid and mentally blow-off, but it was NOT in some rag. It was in the widely respected Seattle Post Intelligencer. Feel free to push this story out to the lamestream media:

For mom Marcia Cobb and her teenage son Axel, the white letters USMC on their caller ID soon spelled, "Don't answer the phone!"

Marine recruiters began a relentless barrage of calls to Axel as soon as the mellow, compliant Sedro-Woolley High School grad had cut his 17th birthday cake. And soon it was nearly impossible to get the seekers of a few good men off the line.

With early and late calls ringing in their ears, Marcia tried using call blocking. And that's when she learned her first hard lesson. You can't block calls from the government, her server said. So, after pleas to "Please stop calling" went unanswered, the family's "do not answer" order ensued.

But warnings and liquid crystal lettering can fade. So, two weeks ago when Marcia was cooking dinner Axel goofed and answered the call. And, faster than you can say "semper fi," an odyssey kicked into action that illustrates just how desperate some of the recruiters we've read about really are to fill severely sagging quotas.

Let what we learned serve as a warning to other moms, dads and teens, the Cobbs now say. Even if your kids actually may want to join the military, if they hope to do it on their own terms, after a deep breath and due consideration, repeat these words after them: "No," "Not now" and "Back off!"

"I've been trained to be pretty friendly. I guess you might even say I'm kind of passive," Axel told me last week, just after his mother and older sister had tracked him to a Seattle testing center and sprung him on a ruse.

The next step of Axel's misadventure came when he heard about a cool "chin-ups" contest in Bellingham, where the prize was a free Xbox. The now 18-year-old Skagit Valley Community College student dragged his tail feathers home uncharacteristically late that night. And, in the morning, Marcia learned the Marines had hosted the event and "then had him out all night, drilling him to join."

Then Axel's mom went out of town for the day, and that, she alleges in the next paragraphs, is when the recruiters kidnapped her son, and forced him to sign recruitment papers.

[Editor's Note: This was posted on last night's thread by long time DCP member Battlebob (original work written by Carly Sheehan. It deserves its own thread. Please comment. I will have this up today (for commenting) and then I an going to send this thread to every member of Congress. For regular political discussion, please see previous thread.]

*CARLY'S POEM*
A Nation Rocked to sleep

by Carly Sheehan
Sister of Casey KIA 04/04/04
Sadr City Baghdad

Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
The torrential rains of a mother's weeping will never be done
They call him a hero, you should be glad that he's one, but
Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?

Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
He must be brave because his boy died for another man's lies
The only grief he allows himself are long, deep sighs
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?

Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
They say that he died so that the flag will continue to wave
But I believe he died because they had oil to save
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?

Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?
The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep
But if we the people let them continue another mother will weep
Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?

From WaPo:

For the first time since the war in Iraq began, more than half of the American public believes the fight there has not made the United States safer, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

And yet we can see that reality has a hard time finding a home on the MSNBC site, since when I was on there last night, there was NO mention of this poll whatsoever.

Is there no end to the idiocy of this woman?

A few years ago I spent several days sitting in the back of a library in London, reading through newsletters, pamphlets and other accounts of Soviet prison conditions published in the 1970s and '80s by Amnesty International. Sometimes these reports were remarkably detailed, testifying to the extraordinary ability of prisoners to smuggle out their stories. One included the memorable observation that on Sept. 13, 1979, the prisoner Zhukauskas "found a white worm" in his soup. A more harrowing 1987 news release told the story of the hunger strike and prison death of dissident writer Anatoly Marchenko. His widow, denied a death certificate or a proper funeral, wrote his name in ballpoint pen on his makeshift grave.

What, like there aren't going to be any stories like that coming out of Gitmo and Abu Ghraib? They are already coming out now--they just don't get published in the US any more than Solzynhitzen and Sacharov did.

But Amnesty also published more general information about the Soviet political system, the whole of which -- the state-run media, the courts, the secret police -- was geared to the suppression of political dissent. This was important work, not least because most Soviet citizens were too frightened to do it. After all, during Joseph Stalin's lifetime, still a recent memory, some 25 million people had been arrested in the Soviet Union, mostly arbitrarily, and placed in thousands of forced-labor camps and exile villages all over the country. Millions died of starvation and overwork. This prison camp system, known as the gulag, cast such a horrific shadow that people were still afraid of it, 30 years after Stalin's death.

Anne, dear, is it not "30 years later". Stalin's rule ended over 50 years ago and it is hardly recent memory.

As Anne herself points out, it is the prison camp system that came to be known as a Gulags, so named after the secret police. It was that people were sent there to stifle political dissent, and that people were treated without consideration of human rights and in violation of international law, that IA is pointing to in comparison. And in comparing the Gulags to Gitmo, it's also comparing that statistically a disproportionate number of prisoners died while in US Detention, and one-fifth of them due to homocide. That's different from Gulags how, Anne?

This story appeared in the Sunday Times in Britain weeks ago: the Sunday Times in Britain uncovers more secrets from the Bush and Blair buildup for the Iraq War.

According to RAF records, the U.S. and Britain doubled the rate of bombs dropped in Iraq in 2002. This clearly indicates the validity of the Downing Street Memo which stated, President Bush and Tony Blair intended to oust Saddam from Iraq regardless of the evidence which showed no weapons of mass destruction. They took precise care planning their mission to provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war.

[Editor's Note: In response to the post reporting the Progressive Agenda from the Take Back America Conference, there was an interesting conversation ensuing about the war in Iraq, strategy for ending it, and how the nature of our language regarding war itself has changed. In an effort to explore some of these ideas more thoroughly, I asked Victoria to please write a thread header about them. Thanks.]

I inadvertantly began a small war on a thread today when I wrote about a "Progressive Agenda" in an attempt to initiate discussion on Iraq, National Security, etc... I believe that these issues must be addressed from the Progressive viewpoint.

The responses were myriad, but in reading down the thread, I was struck by a consistent sense of discomfort with this topic. Part of it seemed to be my use of the word "win" in relation to Iraq. Using the word "win" seemed to somehow imply consent, approval, acceptance -none of which I feel. But it also felt like Progressives reminding me that we didn't start this war. Which is true. That doesn't mean we won't be responsible for ending it. And it's that reality that we have to deal with. I'm done talking about whether or not the war is right or wrong. We all know the answer to that. The question now is "what do we do about it?" Which brings me to my real point here...

News come to us that Citigroup and UPS have managed a feat of incompetence that is truly stunning, in the dataworld version entry in the "the dog ate my homework" excusitis contest.

From WaPo:

A unit of financial services giant Citigroup Inc. said yesterday that a box of computer tapes with account information for 3.9 million customers had been lost in shipment, exposing a vast new swath of Americans to the increased possibility of identity theft.

I learned a lot this week at the Take Back America conference... The most important thing was this:

The Progressive agenda is the American agenda. It's that simple.

Congressional approval ratings are swishing down the proverbial bowl, and polling shows that Americans do not support a national adoption of the religious right's agenda. The word that springs to mind here is 'vacuum.' That sucking sound you hear is a howling wind rushing through the gaping hole in Neocon "leadership."

I met John Edwards last Thursday in Washington, DC. While some say what is uppermost on the man's mind is running in 2008 for President of the United States, I can tell you for a fact, that's not true.

What's uppermost on his mind is his family. And running a close second, are his passionate and deeply-held concerns about poverty in America, not just those on welfare or workfare, but the working poor in America. You know who I mean--the folks who used to be part of the middle class in America; the class that has vanished, seemingly overnight.

The invisible people.

It's a funny phrase, isn't it, the "working poor"? Who are the working poor?

The working poor are people who work one, two, three jobs and still live in poverty in America.

They are old, and young, and every age in between.

They live in areas that are urban, rural, and everywhere in between.

And when I was a child growing up in rural Vermont in the sixties, they were me.

One of the things that becoming a parent does for you, is to help one develop a pretty sharp crap detector. Well, that's not totally true--you don't have to become a parent to get one. You could just as well have a fairly strong recollection of your own teenaged behavior and then take care of some one else's kids and you would know what I mean.

In teaching, there is a concept called applied learning sets. It's when the student learns a concept, and can then apply this concept to a myriad of situations in order to analyze the situation and draw conclusions.

You see where I am going with this I bet.

Fe and I are sitting at Dulles Airport; Suz has just gone off for her flight, and we decided to write a thread header together...

The DCP Crew has been having internet "issues" over the past three days--connectivity, which is our bailiwick and means of organization--has been elusive.

But whereas virtual connectivity has been fraught with challenges, real time connectivity, high-touch connectivity, face-to-face and heart-to-heart connectivity has been easy.

This is Fe on connectivity: One of the most amazing things about face time is that connectivity is easy. You can see, touch and hear one another. You breathe the same air, drink the same java, eat the same pizza. Our challenge here is how do you take virtual connectivity and make it more personal--as if you are having "face time"--that is our next challenge.

I used to think that we needed a battle, like we did during the campaign--to get down and dirty in the trenches with one another--to bring people in. But now, after one battle has concluded and a longer one begins, how do we go about gaining trust, spreading the personal story-talking about your life and getting others to talk about theirs--that is a movement that requires us taking each other's hands across networks, T-1 lines, microwave towers and phone jacks. This is what Bill Moyers has been doing all his life--to put fire to the fight for common justice.

This is about connecting with those who don't normally connect with us here in virtual--how can we reach out with our full heart and soul so that the medium no longer is the drawbridge but the road to which as many of us as possible can feel open, free, and passionate enough to come over and join?

Karen again: I was sitting in the audience, off on the side, when Bill Moyers came down from the stage to watch the video segment he showed on a small town in Pennsylvania--people who had lost jobs due to outsourcing and a corporate takeover that is all too common a story these days. A young woman came over to him, sitting there in the dark; she knelt down and in a voice shaking with emotion, she said to him, "I am from that town." He put his hand on her shoulder, and asked her what her name was.

When he got back on the stage, he said that a young woman who was from that town had just come up to him. He asked her; "Was that story true?"

She said "Yes, it was and is." He went on to say that Ken Tomlinson had called the segment "liberal hogwash."

One of the early discussions we had in forming the DCP was about how the recent election was the first time people had the opportunity to KNOW that the mainstream media was lying to them. When people tell TRUE stories, they not only connect up with each other; they also connect up with reality and truth. Witnessing the moment when the woman came up to Mr. Moyers; observing him use her story to make his point about truth in story-telling, and feeling the chill down my spine when he told us what Ken Tomlinson had said, in the national media, upon seeing and hearing the story of this small town, with real people, suffering--THAT was the moment I burst into tears.

I always cry when resonant truth meets passion and commitment to action. It's one of the few weapons we have when we connect emotionally.

Fe again: And when we connect emotionally, with each other, we are no longer isolated; they can't call us crazy, and we have witness to the truth.

They cannot keep us down.

I am very excited.

Most people who know me, tell me I am difficult to recognize in this state, as it tends to look like my normal state, which is generally happy. This is why I am excited--here's the partial list of people I talked to during the TBA Conference about the DCP who will be helping us on various projects in the w